Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Three At-Large Parolees and Three Sex Offenders Kept Out of 2011 Event

SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO) is again using its Global Positioning Satellite technology to increase security efforts at the California State Fair.

This multi-agency operation is a collaboration among the California Exposition and State Fair Police, the DAPO, the Sacramento Police Department, and the California Highway Patrol to ensure that sex-offender parolees, and GPS-monitored gang members comply with their terms of parole.

“For the third year in a row we have successfully kept prohibited sex-offender parolees out of the State Fair,” DAPO Director Robert Ambroselli said. “Our agents are out there to keep the public safe, and this operation is helping us accomplish that mission.”

Using state-of-the-art technology, DAPO established an electronic exclusion zone to alert on-site parole agents if a GPS-monitored sex offender parolee breaches the perimeter to enter the State Fair grounds. Approximately 20 DAPO agents are involved in the operation to help patrol the grounds during the fair’s 18-day run.

“The highest priority for the California Exposition & State Fair is to provide a safe and fun environment for our State Fair guests,” Police Chief Robert L. Craft said. “This law enforcement teamwork helps discourage the presence of criminal elements that may come to the State Fair only to prey on the public.”

To date, during the 2011 California State Fair operation, surveillance activities have resulted in one GPS sex offender arrest, two additional GPS sex-offender parolee contacts escorted from the fair, and three at-large parolees arrested after citizen contacts with parole agents. Parole agents have worked in concert with the California State Fair Police to assist in gang GPS surveillance, non-parolee arrests, and in providing aid to fair patrons.

In 2010, there were a total of four arrests during the fair’s run. One of the arrests occurred when a Sacramento County sex offender was too close to the State Fair perimeter and triggered an alert. The other arrests were of out-of-county parolees restricted from accessing the fairgrounds.

During the 2009 operation, five sex offenders were arrested for non-compliance after trying to enter the fair. Approximately 35 sex offenders on parole were arrested during compliance checks at six fairs throughout California.

California’s Parole Division utilizes GPS technology daily to track and monitor sex offenders on parole. CDCR’s use of technology and its partnerships with local law enforcement helps to improve public safety throughout the state.

Currently, there are approximately 1,750 GPS-monitored sex offenders in the DAPO’s Region I, which stretches from Siskiyou County to Kern County. Region I also includes approximately 80 GPS-monitored gang members.